Rip & Roll ads cleared

Complaints about the Queensland safe-sex advertising campaign that was the target of an orchestrated campaign by the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) have been dismissed.

The Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) found the Rip & Roll campaign by the Queensland Association of Healthy Communities (QAHC) does not break any advertising or marketing code of ethics.

The advertisment, which was slated to appear in bus shelters and on billboards around Queensland, was removed for public view by advertising company Adshel after 30 complaints.

It was later revealed the complaints were part of an orchestrated campaign by the Queensland branch of the ACL, led by Wendy Francis.

Francis, a Family First Senate candidate last year, was embroiled in a Twitter controversy in 2010 when she likened gay marriage to “legalising child abuse”.

The ASB’s board found the advertisment did not breach the AANA’s Advertiser Code of Ethics, the Code for Advertising & Marketing Communications to Children or its Food & Beverages Advertising & Marketing Code.

“The Board recognised that some members of the community may be offended by the depiction of a same sex couple in an advertisement, but in the Board’s view this image should be treated no differently to an image of a heterosexual couple,” it said in a statement.

“The Board noted that the advertisement does not contain any nudity and considered that the image of the two men hugging was not sexualised and that the advertisement is very subtle in its handling of the issue of safe sex.”

Adshel reinstated the campaign within 24 hours of pulling it from the streets and extended its run by two weeks as a goodwill gesture.

Adshel CEO Steve McCarthy said it was clear Adshel was the target of a coordinated ACL campaign.

“This has led us to review our decision to remove the campaign and we will therefore reinstate the campaign with immediate effect,” he said in a statement.

In response, Adshel competitor Goa Billboards posted a series of pro-gay signs on their digital billboards throughout Brisbane. The billboards read: ‘Our God loves everyone gay & straight’.

“The advice I have is that this advertisement does not breach the Australian Association of National Advertisers codes nor any Australian law,” Goa Billboards managing director Chris Tyquin said.

“The ACL’s claim that these men are engaging in an act of foreplay is drawing a long bow. If that’s foreplay, then clearly I’m doing it wrong.”

The removal of the campaign caused a stir in the gay press and on social media, with tens of thousands of people demanding it be restored.

QAHC executive director Paul Martin said he was surprised at the huge numbers of people pledging their support for the campaign.

“We had 80,000 people joining the Facebook campaign against the decision. Not just the GLBTI community, but the wider Queensland and Australian community — parents, grandparents, Christians, you name it,” he said.

National spokeswoman for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), Shelly Argent OAM said the ad was not obscene or crude in any manner. It was just sending a message about safe-sex practice.

“As a parent and national spokesperson for PFLAG, which is an international family support group, I am very angry and disappointed about the Christian Lobby’s complaint about the Rip and Roll campaign and its withdrawal from public view,” she said.

“If my son was young and just coming out, I, as a parent, would be wanting him to be informed and confident enough to seek information that would assist him to keep the risk of STIs and HIV minimised, and this advert would have been very helpful as a safe-sex message.”